1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of light source apparatus for separating white light into light components of a plurality of colors, and more particularly to a novel lamp device having multi-colored radiant output with high efficiency for use in decorating or display applications.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In the past, conventional colored floodlights, colored spotlights or colored lights have been employed for use in architectural, landscaping and various display lighting. In such prior uses, conventional colored floodlights or the like emitted a single hue and were used in multiple lamps in order to produce alternate color lighting effects. Since the light source within a single lamp emits multiple hues, pairs of filters or mirrors are sometimes employed so as to permit only a selected hue to be emitted. The unselected or undesired hue is then dissipated or absorbed within the lamp. Some lamps use light-absorbing filters to remove the unwanted wavelengths and to dissipate the energy as heat. Others use dichroic filters in the form of thin film to reflect the undesired wavelengths to a surface within the lamp where the undesired wavelengths are dissipated as heat. Efficiency of such prior lamp construction is very low, especially when saturated hues, such as red, green or blue are transmitted.
Such a conventional light source is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,280 which describes a light source apparatus for separating a white light into light components of a plurality of colors. However, only a single color is eventually emitted with undesired or unselected colors or hues being blocked by dichroic filters. Therefore, such a prior light source apparatus is inefficient and usage is very limited. The lamp disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,553 pertains to a light source that divides color rays out and unwanted or non-selected rays are absorbed into a housing and are not used.
Therefore, a long-standing need has existed to provide a multi-colored light source for decoration or display applications that is more efficient than that described by the prior art and which includes a single multi-colored lamp source which not only emits a plurality of colors or hues but selectively emits the colors or hues in appropriate directions by employing dichroic coatings or filters and reflectors to direct and redirect colored rays to desired display locations.